Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) congratulates the road transport workers and their national federations for the grand success of their country wide strike today. The road transport workers have gone on a countrywide strike for the first time in the history of Independent India, demanding withdrawal of the draconian Road Transport and Safety Bill 2015.

In West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura there was a bandh like situation. The road transport workers in West Bengal participated in the strike en masse despite the attempts of the Trinamool government in West Bengal to run the public transport buses and the physical attacks by the Trinamool goons in some parts of the state.

The strike was a total success in the public transport undertakings in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand etc. In Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Delhi, Bihar, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha there was total strike in the private road transport sector. In Mumbai only 300 BEST buses and 10% auto rickshaws plied on the roads. There was a bandh like situation all over Maharashtra. Police arrested several CITU activists organising rasta roko in several towns in Andhra Pradesh. Massive demonstrations were organised in Jammu and Kashmir despite severe downpour. The organisations of truck owners in several states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh supported the strike.

CITU demands the BJP led government to withdraw the Bill, intended to hand over the core transport sector to the corporates, immediately and call the road transport workers’ federations for discussion.